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''Suikoden V'' is set five years before the events of ''VideoGame/SuikodenI'', and chronicles a period of great internal strife in the Queendom of Falena. Though technically a monarchy, the aristocracy holds so much power within Falena that their squabbles and power-plays threaten to de-stablise the whole country. Complicating matters is the presence of the Sun Rune, [[ArtifactOfDoom an royal artifact of apocalyptic power]] and one of the 27 True Runes in the world of ''Suikoden''. Years ago, Queen Arshtat bound the Sun Rune to herself to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, but now [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity she is slowly succumbing to its malevolent influence]] and threatening to unleash a great disaster upon the world.

The PlayerCharacter is the [[HelloInsertNameHere Prince of Falena]], an unimportant figurehead who is not in line to the throne. That is, until a coup d'état forces him out of Falena and into hiding. With his little sister forced to act as the head of a puppet government, it's up to the scrappy royal-in-exile to step out of the shadow of those who would manipulate him for their own ends and gather an army to take back his homeland.

The game is filled with {{Continuity Nod}}s and {{Shout Out}}s to ''VideoGame/SuikodenI'' and especially ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', in a deliberate attempt to get back to the series' roots.

----!!''Suikoden V'' provides examples of:

* AbandonedByTheCavalry: [[spoiler: The Dragon Cavalry refuse to help the Prince because the Godwins are holding their eggs hostage. You can save the eggs, or you can hold out until Craig decides to [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome damn the torpedoes and help anyway.]]]]* ActionMom: Kisara* AdaptationExpansion: The manga, due to not being as bound to the prince's POV, involves a lot more exploration of the characters. Amongst other things it follows the point of view of the Godwins [[spoiler:during their coup d'etat, including Lord Godwin considering his uprising DirtyBusiness and especially employing his wife's murderers.]]* AffablyEvil: Gizel Godwin. Bahram Luger and Dilber Novum could count if their "evilness" wasn't... debatable.* AlasPoorVillain: There are several examples:** During the Second Battle of Doraat: [[spoiler:Bahram Luger launches a suicide attack on the Dahak to prove that his respect for his mentor and enemy Raja is not holding him back. After Luger gets his ass kicked, Raja has a rather sad chat with her dying student where she tells him that he did well.]]** During the Battle of Stormfist: [[spoiler:Dilber Novum dies defending a castle that now has little strategic significance. When the party asks him why he did it, he explains that he was defending the grave of Lady Godwin, Novum's best friend's wife.]]** During the Battle of Sol-Falena:*** [[spoiler:Sialeeds sacrifices herself to prevent the Godwins from using the Sun Rune from wiping out the party. She then lies to the Prince about her chances to recover so he isn't distracted by her death during the rest of the battle.]]*** [[spoiler:Gizel Godwin remains in Sol Falena even after it has become clear that the city is going to fall because he feels that it is his duty as Commander of the Queen's Knights. When the Prince confronts him, Gizel admits that all the Godwins have done is harm Falena. He then challenges the Prince to a duel, with the obvious intent of getting himself killed so he can join Sialeeds in death. As he dies, Gizel compliments Lym and says that his one regret is not being able to see what kind of Queen she will become.]]* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Roy is in love with Lyon, while Faylen pines over him, while Lyon has feelings for her charge the Prince. Whether or not any of it gets resolved is all up to the ending the player gets.** Gizel states outright he used to love Sialeeds before their betrothal was broken by the SuccessionCrisis. It's heavily implied he still does, [[spoiler:given that he allows her to more or less pursue her own agenda after her 'defection'.]] * AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: Randomly acquired potted plants and paintings gotten from [[ImpossibleItemDrop enemies]] can be used to decorate sections of your castle.* AntiVillain: Bahram Luger didn't want bloodshed, and most certainly didn't want to fight his old mentor Raja. A shame he was too damn loyal to defect.* AnyoneCanDie: Well just about, on the battlefield. Or off depending on your decisions.* AtonementDetective: [[spoiler: Oboro and his team.]]* AxCrazy: Childerich* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: If a participant of the Sacred Games wins, they get to marry the queen of Falena and become the commander of the Queen's Guard. Usually it's subverted because most participants are nobles who have gladiators to do the fighting for them, but Ferid plays it completely straight.* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The prince is among the best fighters in the game who surpasses some of his elite bodyguards, both in and out of cutscenes, even though nothing was ever expected of him, combat-related or otherwise. Then again, [[BadassFamily his whole paternal family tree seems to be like that.]]** Some funny lines are spoken by opponents who learn this the hard way. Something along the lines of "I thought this guy was supposed to be a pushover!"** Subverted with Gizel Godwin who, though not incompetent, has just average skills regardless of his rank.* BaldOfEvil: Marscal Godwin* BadassGrandpa: Raja, the retired navy admiral, is still the best at her job and proves it by thoroughly crushing her ex-disciples in open combat.** He doesn't get to do much on screen, but Skald Egan certainly has a reputation for being exactly this. From what you can see of his descendants [[BadassFamily it's hereditary]].* BareFistedMonk: Nikea, Shoon* BaseOnWheels: Raftfleet is a town made of interconnected boats. Since Falena is full of rivers, they are effectively a mobile town and you find them in different places throughout the game.* BattleBoomerang: Faylen's weapon is a big metal three winged boomerang; Sialeeds and Sharmitsa's weapons are also classified as boomerangs, although they'd more accurately be described as chakrams.* TheBattleDidntCount: If you do win the not-quite HopelessBossFight at the start against [[spoiler:Childerich and Dolph]], they just get up completely unharmed.* BattleThemeMusic: When facing RandomEncounters, having certain characters in your active party would change the battle music. Having the conductor would change it to a stirring orchestral piece, having the rock star would invoke an ''Ys''-style heavy metal remix, and having the flutist would change it to a flute-heavy arrangement.* BigEater: Nikea; she goes around entering tournaments just to support her appetite.* BigScrewedUpFamily: The members of the Falenan royal family ''you get to see'' are all very nice people. You don't get to see the others because they are all dead, thanks to struggle for power that gave the resident MurderInc plenty of jobs from all sides. Several [=NPCs=] repeatedly note how remarkably morally upstanding Arshtat and Sialeeds are compared to her predecessors.* {{Bishounen}}: The Prince, Rahal, and Roy, notably.* BlindingBangs: Shigure. [[spoiler:Given the trend, he may have MonochromaticEyes behind that mop of hair.]]* BodyguardBetrayal: Georg is accused of this; straighter examples are [[spoiler: Alenia and Zahhak.]]* BodyguardCrush: Lyon towards the Prince.** In an [[FuroScene optional scene]], Dinn assumes that Isato and Mathias feel the same way toward their charges. [[spoiler: They gently correct him.]]*** Mathias looks like a straight example at first, as he is from Warrior's Village, and the men of that village are famous for naming their signature weapon after the person they care about the most, and his weapon is named Isabel. Of course, that doesn't mean he loves her 'romantically', only that he has dedicated himself to her service above all else.** There's also Lelei's [[LesYay crush on her "Lady," Lucretia Merces]]. If you have Oboro dig into her past, he comes up with the following:--->'''Oboro''': "Lelei used to be a guard at Agate Prison, but she fell for Lucretia's pretty -- I MEAN, she was concerned about Lucretia, as she came with her. Now she's kind of Lucretia's...assistant."* BoisterousBruiser: Several. Ferid initially comes off as the type, but resident [[TheBigGuy big guy]] Boz Wilde takes up the part for most of the game.* BoxedCrook: Several. One example is Roy, who is a dead ringer for Prince Freyjadour. He was hired by the oafish fop [[spoiler: Euram Barows]] to sully the Prince's name. Should the player choose to spare Roy's life, he will be recruited as a star of destiny. Later in the game, he serves as a body double wearing his "Prince" disguise.* BreakTheCutie: Part of Richard's backstory. His father was an abusive son of a bitch, up until Mueller killed him and all but adopted the boy.* BrilliantButLazy: Shigure. LightningBruiser, skilled detective, and constantly complaining slacker. [[CatchPhrase What a pain...]]* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: Sisterhood, in this case. Nifsara and Linfa form a secret society dedicated to protecting pretty boys: the Secret Alliance for the Protection of Pretty Hunks in Real Endangerment ([[FunWithAcronyms SAPPHIRE]]). Their motto is: "To observe! To protect! To observe some more!"* ButThouMust: Averted in several places, leading to [[NonstandardGameOver Nonstandard Game Overs]] in most instances.* CantHoldHisLiquor: Belcoot, of all people. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Sialeeds and Georg that they wonder if the guy is REALLY from Kanakan, a place well known for its liquor. [[spoiler:He's not. He's actually a native Falenan, who escaped slavery and then was trained to become a master swordsman in Kanakan.]]* CatchPhrase: Mathias usually finishes sentences about your enemies by describing how he will exact final retribution to said enemy and deposit their loathsome corpse into nearby swamps, bogs, rivers, or other bodies of water. It's almost a RunningGag.** Shigure's is "what a pain...".** And who can forget Richard reciting Mueller's name as a full sentence?* ChekhovsGun: The sewers of Stormfist.* ChekhovsBoomerang: Those sluice gates have more than one use.* TheChessmaster: Lucretia Merces. In every conceivable way. She's pretty much an gender-flipped {{Expy}} of [[RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Zhuge Liang]], right down to the feather fan.* ChickMagnet: The Prince of Falena* ChivalrousPervert: Gavaya, he isn't really all that much of a pervert either, though he comes off as creepy due to his borderline {{Gonk}} status.** More traditionally, Kyle displays interest on mostly everything resembling a female. Whether his chivalrous side depends entirely on his own conscience or is partly due to the fact that he's usually too busy/somewhere else when you get to meet women is up for debate.* CloudCuckoolander: Miakis, although she becomes more serious later and fits the GenkiGirl archetype more.* CoolBoat[=/=]BaseOnWheels: Raftfleet is basically a floating city formed from various individual ships that lash themselves together whenever they make port. It changes location several times throughout the game.* CoolOldGuy: Galleon, Bahram, Dilber* CoolOldLady: Raja* CrutchCharacter: Georg. He differs from the usual Crutch in that he remains a GameBreaker throughout the entire game (which is why he gets PutOnABus until late in the game, whereupon he's still overpowered, but not ludicrously so). Physically, at least. His defense against magic is severely lacking.** Sialeeds – who starts out as a powerful long-ranged fighter and mage – also qualifies, with only one rune slot and an irremovable Wind Rune. [[spoiler:Possibly a subtle way to discourage the player from being too dependent on her, so her FaceHeelTurn later in the game won't cripple your party.]]* CueTheSun: Which can actually be used as [[KillSat an attack]].* DarkSkinnedBlonde: Lucretia.* DeadpanSnarker: Sialeeds is pretty good at this, as is Shigure. Miakis, meanwhile, is more of a [[GenkiGirl Genki]] [[DeadpanSnarker Snarker]].* DeathIsCheap: [[spoiler:If [[MysteriousWaif Eresh]] gets killed in a war battle, Jeane sends the Prince a letter implying that she will eventually get better. The player will still be prevented from getting the best ending though.]]* DeliberateValuesDissonance:** Lymsleia is only ten years old, but because she's the queen's only daughter, the right of succession naturally falls to her once Arshtat dies.** Because Falena can only be ruled by a queen, princes are considered functionally useless and aren't held in particularly high regard.** The queen's husband is decided by whoever wins the Sacred Games. And it's considered perfectly acceptable for adult men to fight for the hand of a future queen who's still a child.** The Dragon Cavalry is very patriarchal, especially compared to the rest of Falena (or even the Suikoden world in general). Not only are women not allowed to be Dragon Riders, they're not even permitted to set foot into their training camp in Gordius.* DesignStudentsOrgasm: In-universe: Haud Village was formed by artists commissioned by Salum Barows to design a town of their own. The result: a place chock full of abstract/surrealist artworks, music inspired by the likes of Arnold Schoenberg and Music/JohnCage, and citizens that talk like [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]].* {{Determinator}}: Nakula* DistractedByTheSexy: [[spoiler:[[WholesomeCrossdresser Rahal, who is indistinguishable from his sister when in drag]]. Even Roog admits that [[StupidSexyFlanders he COULD get distracted]].]]* DragonRider: The Feitas Dragon Cavalry.* DrillSergeantNasty: Mueller will smack his subordinates upside the head with an iron rod if they screw around. Richard sees him as more of a SergeantRock.* DudeLooksLikeALady: The Prince himself. He looks feminine no matter how he dresses, but the costume with no sleeves, long gloves, some kind of kilt and tights doesn't help. Oddly enough, someone compliments him on how masculine his new outfit makes him look. Falena must have different ideas of masculinity. * EarnYourHappyEnding* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Zerase; one of the bath scenes revolves around this.* [[EmotionlessGirl Emotionless Guy]]: Dolph. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that he is a BloodKnight whose cannot emote due to the drugs he uses to increase his power.]]* EvilPlan: The plot is set in motion by [[spoiler: Marscal Godwin attempting to steal the Sun Rune]] and the civil war is set in motion by Gizel Godwin's bid for Lymsleia's hand in marriage. The Godwin goal is strengthening Falena through conquest of the neighboring lands. * {{Expy}}:** Lucretica Merces is basically a hot female [[DarkSkinnedBlond Karayan]] version of Zhuge Liang.** Childerich is not at all supposed to remind us of [[VideoGame/SuikodenII Luca Blight]], or more specifically, his sword arm-happiness. Though he lacks Luca's imposing build and [[RasputinianDeath isn't nearly as hard to kill]].** Shoon looks a little like a [[Manga/SaintSeiya Seiya]].** Shigure channels [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Shikamaru]] just a bit...---> What a pain...* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Lady Sialeeds hair turns white after her [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn, in the process. It's apparently her natural hair color, which makes sense given that all her blood relatives (save Lym) all have silver-white hair.]]* EyepatchOfPower: Worn by Georg Prime. [[spoiler: He's got a normal eye under it.]]* FantasticRacism: The elves of Alseid hate "barbarous humans" and say "[[HiddenElfVillage screw the world]]"; the Beavers of Beaver Lodge don't mind humans but are kind of "[[ApatheticCitizens eeeeh...]]" about getting involved in the whole war thing; [[spoiler: the Godwins want to engage in [[KillEmAll Fantastic]] ''[[KillEmAll Genocide]]'', which convinced the latter to take up arms.]]* FantasyKitchenSink* FishingMinigame: Run by Subala, who turns it into a four-way contest between the Prince, herself, Logg and Lun. Complete with {{Trash Talk}}ing and boat-ramming. (Sadly, Lyon does not provide {{Trash Talk}}ing on [[HeroicMime the prince's]] behalf.)* FiveBadBand: The Godwins** BigBad: Marscal Godwin** TheDragon: Dolph** [[EvilGenius The Evil Genius]]: Gizel Godwin** TheBrute: Childerich, although most of the Godwin generals have elements of this as well** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler: Sialeeds]]* FiveManBand: The party with the CombinationAttack Falena's Finest** TheLeader: The Prince** TheLancer: Georg** TheSmartGuy: Kyle** TheBigGuy: Galleon** TheChick: Lyon or Miakis (they're not in the group at the same time [[spoiler: because of Lyon's critical injury at one point...but after Lyon recovers, Miakis would end up as the SixthRanger by default.]]* {{Foil}}: The Prince and Lyon are complementary to each other, representing "Dawn" (the Prince) and "Twilight" (Lyon). This ties in with the game's sun motif. [[spoiler: It is also no coincidence that they become the bearers of the Dawn and Twilight Runes, respectively.]]* ForGreatJustice: The [[KnightInShiningArmor Maximillian Knights']] one and only raison d'être. Their philosophy shows them to have HiddenDepths, however, as they consider their killing of evildoers as a crime in itself.* FriendlySniper: Cathari* FuroScene: Taking the right people into the baths triggers {{Subtext}}-laden scenes, for all your HoYay / LesYay / [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensuing]] needs.* TheGadfly: Miakis, who, among many other things, tries to get the Prince to ruin Lym's engagement ceremony.* GambitPileup: Phew. Trying to explain this is already staggering. Though the ultimate winner is [[spoiler: Sialeeds who bears EVERYTHING and kills Salum Barows.]] Need proof? Talk to Kyle [[spoiler: in the graveyard at your castle, not Sun Palace, after you win the Sun Palace war]]. Also [[spoiler: Gizel does tell you when you kill him in a [[DuelBoss duel]] that Sialeeds won.]]** It doesn't help that this is Gizel Godwin's preferred method of scheming: he sets multiple plans in motion and just sits back to see what takes root. At one point his father warns him about this kind of reckless behaviour, pointing out that his failed plans have only stoked dissent against him and advising him to be more conservative and careful in his machinations. [[spoiler:Gizel ignores this advice even after seizing the queendom, which only helps the Prince find allies]].* GambitRoulette: Lucretia's strategic skills border on precognition.** Gizel actually prefers this sort of plot, comparing it to throwing a bunch of seeds onto a field and seeing what bears fruit. It's lampshaded by his father, who tells him to intrigue decisively, if he's going to do so at all.*** [[spoiler: Worth noting that his machinations during the Sacred Games were indirectly responsible for allowing the Prince to escape during the Coup. It also sows the seeds to make him a badass.]]* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Some default runes are explicitly used by the holder in several cutscenes, namely:** Kyle used Breath of Ice, a Water Rune spell, as a smokescreen to escape the [[spoiler: Nether Gate from the Sun Palace]].** Sialeeds used her Wind Rune in similar ways when she [[spoiler: prevents Lyms from being kidnapped by the Prince]].* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The Prince acquires the spell "First Light" as part of a side quest to heal Lyon. That spell can be used in battle.* GenkiGirl: Nikea. There's also Lu, who can't seem to speak without using nicknames and sound effects.* GoodIsNotNice: Zerase is a bit of a bitch in the early parts of the game. [[spoiler: She starts to get nicer once she realize you may actually be worthy of the Dawn Rune.]]* GuideDangIt: The 108 Stars of Destiny can be very annoying to recruit, not to mention their tendency to be [[PermanentlyMissableContent unobtainable past a certain point]]:** Oboro, along with [[spoiler:Sagiri and Nakula]], among others.** Cornelio, who has a VERY brief window of opportunity to be recruited (with no build-up to him at all, and no indication of when you're able to get him), and practically everyone in Lunas, as even getting back in requires one obscure support character that few people would ever use otherwise (who in fact might be considered a GuideDangIt himself).** Josephine, who you can either recruit very early in the game or really, really late [[spoiler:(by talking to her with either Sialeeds or Shula Valya in your party)]].** Egbert. You have to endure an extremely long speech from him at the lowest text scroll speed. [[spoiler:If you press X even once during the speech (the button that would usually let you skip the text) then he will refuse to join until you leave the cave and try again. This is not even hinted at.]]* GunsAreWorthless: {{Lampshaded}} when a member of the Howling Voice Guild -- and the game's only gun wielder -- explains that rifles are inferior to the bow-and-arrow because of the cost, difficulty to manufacture and reduced accuracy: however, they ''are'' useful as an intimidation tactic. She then zizags this trope: in the very same scene where the rifle user explains the limitations of rifles, she then adds that those who are aware of their limitations can work around them, and everyone who are given rifles ''knows''. Leaving one arrogant elf and a certain lady samurai very upset that they'd just been toyed with.* HappilyMarried: A few examples, but most notably Arshtat and Ferid.* HeroicBSOD: Interestingly, the Prince has one (despite his HeroicMime status). He goes through a large amount of trauma throughout the story, but he finally cracks [[spoiler: after the events of The New Queen's Campaign: Sialeeds betrays him and Lyon nearly dies from a stab wound.]] In a scene after the above spoiler, Luserina tries to reach out and comfort him. After a moment, he simply turns around and walks off; the player is not even given the option to respond (which would normally happen). Pretty powerful response for a silent protagonist.* HeroicMime: The Prince. There was one sequence where it seemed that this is averted, but it's [[spoiler: Roy in disguise]]. As is usual with the ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series, the hero does talk, but only when you're given dialogue options. Instead of a simple Yes/No option, the player is given choices of the actual lines the hero will be saying. Though unlike the other characters, the Prince doesn't have a voice actor ''speaking'' the lines. And given that those dialogue choices are usually only given at key moments, with Lyon [[spoiler: (or, when she's incapacitated, Miakis)]] doing most of the speaking for him, it's clear that the Prince wouldn't be a very talkative guy even if we did hear him.* HeroicComedicSociopath: Nakula, Mathias may also count given his...hobby of killing enemies and throwing them into water.* HeroWithBadPublicity: Georg. [[spoiler: He eventually leaves the country due to it.]]* HiddenElfVillage: Alseid. [[spoiler: You can't even ''visit'' it.]]* HighlyVisibleNinja: {{Subverted}} with Shigure and Sagiri, who are never even called ninjas, but fight with ninja weaponry and [[spoiler: were once assassins for Nether Gate]].** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] via Raven, a loud, obnoxious thief, who dresses like a ninja and [[spoiler: whose Raven Rune renders him nigh-untouchable so long as he's indoors and it's dark enough.]]* TheHighQueen: Queen Arshtat of the Queendom of Falena fits this trope rather well, at least while at court, and ''especially'' while being influenced by the Sun Rune.* HopelessSuitor: Poor Gavaya.* HopeSpot: The entirety of the Sacred Games is full of these. [[spoiler:Hey, the Godwins rescue you from certain death by shipwreck! They might not be plotting against the Queen after all! Well, actually, yes they are, as shown by a cutscene. But wait, they still have to win the Sacred Games to put their plan into action, and the Barows family gladiator is a much better fighter than theirs! Nope, the Godwins frame said gladiator as being an Armes spy and get him disqualified. But wait, a Dark Horse foreigner comes out of nowhere and gets to the semifinals! He's also a better fighter than the Godwin's, to boot. Too bad the Godwins enact a plot to drug him so their gladiator wins the tournament, even after you thwart their first attempt to get him out of the way.]]* HotBlooded:-->'''Boz Wilde:''' Sometimes justice is just a pretty word, other times it's three feet of steel to the face.* HomoeroticSubtext: Lucretia gets Lelei and Cathari; Miakis gets {{Subtext}} with her charge, the Princess Lymsleia; then there's Richard's slavish devotion towards Mueller...Most all of this is lampshaded at some point, usually by Oboro.** Roog and Rahal...Oh, the friendships that must bloom in a town that prohibits women. It doesn't help that Rahal is, in Roog's own words, "disturbingly attractive."*** On Roog, there are some hints in the game that he has the hots for Miakis, who's just happy to push the button.* HumiliationConga: A massive one gets trotted out for [[spoiler: Lord Barows and Euram]] -- couldn't have happened to a nicer SmugSnake!** There's also [[spoiler: Childerich's battle after he takes over your castle. It's probably one of the easiest campaign battles in the game.]]* ImprobableWeaponUser: Loads of 'em. Most notably Viki, whose staff is supposed to be her weapon, yet she attacks by... randomly teleporting and dropping stuff on the enemy.** A curious example is the Prince himself, who uses a slightly-too-thick but otherwise real three-section staff... except for the fact that its middle section is somehow split in two for easier carrying. The method of assembling displayed in the artbook makes one wonder just how skilled the prince is to be able to pull it out and piece it together in a single motion every battle. Not to mention his skills in turning it into a staff and back at a moment's notice. And somehow Roy is able to do the same with his copy of the Prince's weapon, despite lacking the Prince's years of practice.* IncestSubtext: Miakis tells Lym that if the Prince wins, she'll have to marry him. Miakis has a really wild sense of humor. Then Lym attacks the Prince for winning his ''ceremonial'' match, out of fear that they'll have to marry. Third, in the best ending, the prince [[spoiler: becomes Commander of the Queen's Knights, a position normally reserved for the Queen's husband.]] [[note]] All the remaining knights were already working for him anyway, and as the rebel army's general, there was no better candidate at the time. This sends a message that the corrupt political system in Falena is changing. [[/note]]* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Euram Barows, until [[spoiler: his optional HeelFaceTurn.]]* IntrepidReporter: Taylor* ItsPronouncedTroPAY: The English dub wierdly pronounces Georg Prime (normally pronounced Gay-org) as George.* JerkAss: Killey. Cornelio, until you get his [=DoReMi=] elves back. He'll still refer to everyone else as mediocrity, though.* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Roy, following his CharacterDevelopment.* KilledOffForReal: Roy can end up like this, [[spoiler: if you stubbornly choose to defend your castle instead of abandoning it.]] This is not recommended, [[spoiler: because his death bars you from getting the best ending.]]** [[spoiler:Faylon and Faylen]], too, if you wait too long to recruit them.** In the LeaveHimToMe entry below, if the characters you choose lost the duel, they also end up like this.* KillerRabbit: A type of RandomEncounter enemies that have been in the series since the first game are literally called Killer Rabbits/Bunnies, which happen to be fluffy little black rabbits... wielding throwing-axes.** The beavers also qualify. They're half your size, furry, and wield an ImprovisedWeapon each, but get five of them together and they have an attack that can cause instant death. Oh, and their troops literally eat up enemy ships. As the official guide puts it, beaver troops turn the naval component of the usual rock/paper/scissors to "Beaver smashes rock, beaver shreds paper, and beaver breaks scissors." [[GameBreaker That's a pretty accurate description.]] The only thing keeping them from breaking the game wide open is that they can only use a limited number of "Gnaw" attacks on enemy ships.* KillSat: The Sun Rune's ultimate power, once unleashed, can burn an entire county with a column of light from the sky.* KnightInSourArmor: Georg Prime, though he's pretty nice. He just prefers to dispense with formalities.* LargeHam: Barring Luserina, the Barows family are all deliciously hammy.* LateArrivalSpoiler: The revelation that [[spoiler:Georg killed Arshtat]] is treated as a WhamEpisode very late in the game...but anyone who's played ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' and made use of [[HardboiledDetective Richmond]]'s services in it will have already figured that out. The only mystery was how and why it happened. [[spoiler:It turns out that Arshtat and Ferid had ordered Georg to do so if Arshtat ever completely lost control of the Sun Rune.]]* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Lymsleia, InUniverse. Partly justified by the fact that she's a princess and her husband will sit the throne beside her, but several individuals seem to actually desire her, either in text or subtext.* LeaveHimToMe: Take the right people along when you finally face off with Childerich, you get to see what happens when several people try to claim this right all at once. Specifically, it's [[spoiler:Belcoot, Zegai, and Richard -- in this order of priority -- who will make the offer; those who entered the Sacred Games]].* LimaSyndrome: It's implied Lelei fell for Lucretia while [[spoiler: guarding her cell]]. [[spoiler: Cius]] also qualifies, as he was a hard-lined RulesLawyer, and yet [[spoiler: he broke the rules to keep Lucretia informed, and ultimately broke her out of prison.]]* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: [[CaptainObvious It's Suikoden, after all.]]* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: If there is one thing fans complain about this game, it's that the loading times take forever.* LostTechnology: Rune Cannons from Suikoden IV are now a lost art, and in fact you blow up the last of them for being "too powerful".* MagicAntidote: Averted -- The Hero's Rune has the power to keep Lyon from dying, but she still has to spend a long time in bed recovering from the poison. [[spoiler: In fact, it's possible for her to die from the wound you've supposedly taken care of if you didn't recruit all characters.]]* MagikarpPower: [[spoiler: Roy isn't a joke character, per se, but he does get the skill Royal Paradise which boosts all stats (including combat and magic) considerably and raise it up to A. Also, with the availability of two Runes at later levels makes him rather powerful indeed. Note that the Royal Paradise skill has only one other character who can use it - [[TheRival The Prince]]. Heck, him being an almost perfect carbon-copy of the main character should tell you something.]]* MamaBear: You don't want to insult or threaten Arshtat's family. You ''really'' don't. On a similar but less dangerous note, don't pull anything around Sialeeds either, because it ''will'' backfire on you.* MasterSwordsman: Richard is called the Blade Master, and it's a justified moniker.* MistakenForAnImposter: [[spoiler: Euram thinks the Prince he's facing is the fake Prince he had hired.]]* MonochromaticEyes: Dolph has dull brown, emotionless eyes. Two other characters with similarly "flat" eyes are [[spoiler: Oboro and Sagiri, hinting at the connection between all three.]]* MonsterProtectionRacket: [[spoiler: Euram]] hires bandits led by a lookalike of the Prince so that he can beat them and look awesome.* MultipleEndings: Aside from the [[OneHundredAndEight 108 Stars]] endings (and yes, there's a few variations on that!), and the not-so-good endings where the player didn't [[GuideDangIt track everyone down]], there are several premature endings the player can stumble across.* MurderInc: Nether Gate. [[spoiler: Comes complete with ''[[FourIsDeath four]]'' defectors who can join your party.]]* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Galleon in a nutshell. He continues to work for the monarch that reduced his hometown to a desert. Dilber and Luger also suffer from this.* MysteriousWaif: Eresh* MysticalWhiteHair: The Prince. He is chosen by a rune (magical properties) and is a good commander despite his young age. * MythologyGag: The alternate outfits worn by the Prince, Lyon, and Kyle during certain sections of the plot are meant to invoke the outfits worn by [=McDohl=], Cleo, and Viktor in [[VideoGame/SuikodenI the original game]]. You also get to go to an [[VideoGame/SuikodenIV Island Nations]] city and fight a battle there with a remix of ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'''s battle soundtrack. Not to mention the recurring characters.* NonIdleRich: Luserina Barows, a girl born in a dynasty of {{Upper Class Twit}}s who lacks any of her relatives' haughtiness and actually performs the majority of the administrative business of their house.** Sialeeds, the queen Arshtat's sister, officially tasked with [[GentlemanSnarker absolutely nothing]], served as a sort of counter-intelligence/micromanaging problem-solver for her sister, and has no problem [[LadyOfWar engaging in combat herself]]. Arshtat probably intended for the prince to become this as well, until [[CallToAdventure the plot just went and did the job for her]]. [[spoiler: [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive By doing her in.]]]]** There's also [[spoiler: Josephine, who's actually Shula's sister Yuma, who came to Haud in search of... ''culture''. Despite her questionable tastes, though, she's surprisingly effective in battle and you'll probably get a lot of mileage out of her magic skills during the early war battles.]]* NotBloodSiblings: Lyon and the prince, who were brought up together as lord and bodyguard.* NotSoHarmlessVillain: [[spoiler:The jovial and seemingly scatterbrained Salum Barows is revealed to be the mastermind behind the theft of the Dawn Rune, and by extension, the Lordlake incident.]]** Lym is pretty sharp and has more political and people-smarts than you would expect from a ten-year-old girl.** The Prince himself falls under this as well. As noted above, not many really expected the Prince to be a major player in the game's storyline; or that he was a formidable warrior and capable leader. Most of it is due to princes being generally seen as royal deadweights in the matriarchal Falenan tradition.* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler: Lord Barows]] and Skald Egan.** Oboro also does this; he's a detective who downplays his real talents... [[spoiler: and used to gather intelligence for Nether Gate.]]* OddFriendship: Fun loving, lecherous and hammy mercenary captain Wilhelm, and his stern, dour right hand man Mueller.* OlderThanTheyLook: Fuyo, who's all PuniPlush, big pigtails and big skirts.* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Nakula has this towards Sagiri, and all of Nether Gate actually. Inverted with Raven, who feels that Oboro is The Only One Allowed To Catch Me.* OnlySaneMan: At times, Shigure openly questions the sanity of his coworkers in the Oboro Detective Agency. Said complaints are generally met with much amusement by said coworkers. [[CatchPhrase What a pain...]]* PapaWolf: More like "Brother Wolf"; Shigure may be lazy, and constantly complain about his adoptive family, but '''don't threaten them'''.** Could also be said about Georg towards the prince, Lym and Lyon.* PaperThinDisguise: [[spoiler:Faylen and Faylon]] tried to pull this to impersonate [[spoiler:Lyon and Georg]], although it didn't work since [[spoiler:Roy laughed off at Faylen's disguise, and Faylon ripped out the costume when he tried it on]].* PettingZooPeople: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Beavers]]* PowerAtAPrice: Raging Nostrum. [[spoiler:A PsychoSerum developed by [[MurderInc Nether Gate]] that sends the user into a UnstoppableRage, but [[DeadlyUpgrade they die afterwards]].]]** The Sun Rune also qualifies, the ability to utterly decimates one's foes comes at the cost of one's sanity eroding away.* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: Sialeeds and Sharmista's weapons come back despite the fact that their weapons are not boomerangs.* {{Precursors}}: The Sindar are the staple ancient civilization of Suikoden, having left heaps of [[RagnarokProofing still functioning]] [[LostTechnology cryptic devices and ruins]] all over.** The ancient Armes Dynasty also [[AndManGrewProud got themselves wiped clean]] with the same MacGuffin that triggers most of the conflict. Their stuff isn't quite as durable.* PrivateDetective: The Oboro Detective Agency, composed of three detectives, a plump secretary and a well trained mouse. [[spoiler:Said three detectives are also former assassins.]]* PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Lindwurm mercenary brigade.* PsychoForHire: Childerich.* RandomEncounter: Not quite high as in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'', but still... Even in the very first dungeon, you won't leave it without at least ten random encounters while getting two mediocre treasures.* RantInducingSlight: Egbert Aethelbald, who will always quickly descend to ranting about '''FILTHY GODWIN DEVILS!!!!''' in mere seconds.* RebelliousPrincess: [[spoiler:Yuma Valya, a SpoiledBrat version who fled to Falena because she saw New Armes as "uncultured" and she was tired of living in her brother Shula's shadow She goes by the assumed name Josephine...]]%% ** Princess Lymsleia.* RedOniBlueOni: Roog and Rahal. Their mounts even share the color scheme, if not the dynamic.* RedundantResearcher: Zweig, Lorelai and Killey.* RelationshipValues: Many of the scenes and choices the Prince can make don't have much of an effect on narrative, but it can build up relationships with other characters if they like your answers. Gameplay-wise, it can lead to unite attacks being more powerful. Story-wise, it can affect the ending and other scenes in the game. [[spoiler: Having a high relationship with Lymsleia gives a few extra scenes, and it is needed in addition to having all 108 Stars for one ending, and a low relationship value with Lyon gives the worst ending.]]* RestrainingBolt: The Sun Rune, worn on the head, is meant to be worn along with the Dawn Rune and the Twilight rune (on either hand) in order to keep its power in check and prevent the wielder from going insane. Unfortunately, Arshtat has access to neither when she takes up the Sun Rune.%%* RevengeBeforeReason: Nakula.* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The Prince is a male royal in a country where only females inherit the throne, so nobody expected him to do anything at all. Then he goes and becomes the leader of the rebel army. This is played for contrast with him and his father Ferid. The previous commanders, usually noble-born who simply hired someone to earn their position for them, were very rarely if ever trained as field commanders, much less fighters, usually delegating the job to someone else. Ferid, and later the prince, gain a lot of popularity precisely for being RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething.* RunningGag: A rare aversion. This is the only game where there's no funny fake name of Schtolteheim Reinbach III.* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: [[spoiler: The Oboro Detective Agency]]* ShipTease: ** Early in the game, there's a lot of {{Subtext}} between [[BrotherSisterIncest the prince and Lymsleia]], including [[SleepCute sleeping in the same bed at one point]].** The manga teases the prince with Luserina Barows.** There's also Roog and Miakis, AmazonChaser style.* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler: Georg killed Arshtat because she had finally gone over the edge and was about to nuke the entire country.]]* ShoutOut:** [[Creator/HPLovecraft Alhazred]], and his weapons are all named for the different "translations" of the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Necronomicon]].** [[PhantomThief Raven]]'s weapon are Rook, [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Carrion Crow, and Nevermore]]** Oboro mentioned that Nakula has a [[Myth/HinduMythology twin brother]] in Armes. Like his name sake, the twin brothers of Pandava.%%* SiblingYinYang: The prince and Princess Lymsleia; Euram and Luserina Barows; Faylon and Faylen.* SmallGirlBigGun: Faylen and her boomerang; Lu and her ''quadruple crossbow''...* SmugSnake: Salum Barows.* SilkHidingSteel: Luserina Barows. She's sweet and graceful and apparently stays home while her dad and brother politic in the capital. However, if you talk around Rainwall, you'll find out that ''she'' is the one running the place. She also takes part in the coming battles as 'morale', in other words, encouraging them to victory.* SpareToTheThrone: A non-royal example with the House of Barows. After his older brother Hiram was assassinated during the bloody Succession Conflict, Euram was thrust into the role of his father's heir, as well as dealing with his mother's extended [[DespairEventHorizon BSOD]]. This stress of this helps shape him into the irritating {{Epic Fail}}ing UpperClassTwit everyone has to deal with during the events of the game, until CharacterDevelopment enables him to grow out of it.* StealthHiBye: Dolph, being a ninja, appears from nowhere all the time.* StepfordSmiler: A disturbing example can be found in [[spoiler:Sagiri, a former Nether Gate assassin trained to smile while she killed her targets. It's her one and only expression. The people closest to her are actually waiting [[TearJerker for the day she cries]].]]* TheStrategist: Lucretia Merces, particularly notable for being the first character to play this role in the series not related to the Silverbergs in any form.* StreetUrchin: Roy, Faylen, and Faylon.* {{Stripperific}}: Many examples, but the biggest offenders are Jeane (as usual), Nikea, Urda, Nifsara, and Faylen.* SummonMagic: The 'Pale Gate' rune.* SupportingLeader: An interesting and subtle case of this occurs in the very end of the game: In the final dungeon, the heroes split into three parties, with Frey, Lyon, and Zweig each leading one of said parties. However, Georg insists on going with Zweig, and the game makes it quite clear who the ''real'' leader of the party is: Despite Zweig leading the party on the field, it's impossible to put ''Georg'' into the entourage slot; only the leader of a party (usually Frey) [[CantDropTheHero can't be moved from the battle party outside of battle]].* SympatheticMurderBackstory: Lyon reveals [[spoiler:she was a former member of Nether Gate, an assassin's guild in service to Falena's royal family. They took her in while she was still a child and trained her. She was eventually rescued by the prince's father, Ferid, who gave her the name Lyon. She goes on to become the prince's bodyguard as her way of repaying Ferid's kindness.]]* TacticalRockPaperScissors: As usual for the series, both Duels and War Battles function through these. The latter gets a bit more complicated, though.* TeamMom: Fuyo to the Oboro Detectives. Oboro serves as a TeamDad. Together they're a kind of ''de facto'' husband and wife.* ThoseTwoGuys: Rahal and Roog; Logg and his daughter Lun.* TomeOfEldritchLore: The "miraculous book" your character receives in the inn at Yashuna Village by a stranger, [[spoiler:who is later revealed to be Euram Barows, is a cursed tome that brings death to those who possess it.]]* TriangRelations: Type 4 -- [[spoiler:Alenia loves Gizel, who has a ''complicated'' history with Sialeeds; Gizel is aware of Alenia's feelings, but mainly uses them to keep her in line...]]** There's also [[spoiler: Roy, Lyon, and Feylen. Roy has the hots for Lyon, Feylen has the hots for Roy, and Lyon only has eyes for the prince.]]* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Faylen ''really likes'' Roy, but he's too interested in [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Lyon]] to notice. [[spoiler:Even if he makes his HeroicSacrifice, his last thoughts are of ''Lyon'' while ''Faylen'''s the one who 'gets' to watch him die... ''[[TearJerker Ouch]]''.]]* UpperClassTwit: Euram, through and through.* {{UST}}: ** Lelei and Lucretia may be resolved. Oboro's comments are suggestive but not conclusive. As in, [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Nanoha-level conclusive.]]** Lyon and the Prince. While nothing is directly mentioned about it, there's a lot of subtle subtext pointing towards that they indeed have a more developed relationship then what is known. See for example certain dialogue-less scenes in Lunas.* WarriorPrince: The prince not only directly leads the army in combat, he fights as part of the infantry.* WellIntentionedExtremist: ** The Godwins seek to empower Falena as a nation so that the losses suffered in the bloody civil war several years ago is not repeated. Unfortunately, they try to do this by overthrowing the royal family, reviving a defunct assassin's guild, and [[spoiler:attempting to purge the nation of all nonhumans.]]** [[spoiler: In contrast, we have Sialeeds. She planned to dissolve the bickering Senate and eliminating the two factions in it, probably because of her great hate of what happened with her mom and aunt on the last civil war. And she succeeded. Gizel and Marscal just realized it around the time Sialeeds died. Gizel seems to have been okay with either result; it's explicitly stated that he likes to start conflicts just to see who'll win.]]* WhamLine:--> '''Euram:'''[[spoiler:"Use the Dawn Rune on them!"]]--> '''Sialeeds:''' [[spoiler:"This wasn't part of the plan, Dolph."]]* WhamShot: The scene depicting how Arshtat [[spoiler: was killed]]. It's an even bigger shock when you know that this is something that was referenced in one of Richmond's investigations in ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', a game that was released '''7 years prior.'''* WholesomeCrossdresser: [[spoiler: Rahal fills out his sister's clothes pretty well. He knows that he's exceptionally beautiful, so he'll make use of that fact in any way possible. He and his sister have been trolling their friends like this for years.]]* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity:** The Sun Rune is one of the strongest of the 27 True Runes, and can cause moments of extreme megalomania in its bearer, as they believe themselves to be a god. Even the kind and loving Arshtat fell victim to this, destroying Lordlake [[spoiler:and almost doing the same to the entire country of Falena]] because of the rune's influence. This is in fact what happened to empire that existed where Falena does long before the game takes place. The ruler who wielded the Sun Rune went mad and annihilated his entire nation overnight. Supposedly having possession of the Dawn and Twilight runes as well prevents this from happening to the wielder of the Sun Rune.** Downplayed by the Raging Nostrum user. Crazed Assassin are assassins that have partaken a special drug that gives the user inhumane strength, but kills them the moment it wears off. It also makes the user lose his mind, like [[spoiler: Childerich]] that's reduced to a mindless monster unable to say anything but "I'll kill you! Kill! Kill...".* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Queen Arshtat* XanatosGambit: Lucretia wields one of these masterfully to beat the combined Armes/Godwin army, first feigning defeat to get the enemy armies to occupy the rebel headquarters, flooding the entire thing, then launching a full out assault on the weakened enemy forces. Truly worthy of being an {{Expy}} of [[RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Zhuge Liang]]. She really did think of everything. Leaving the castle itself is a good move because they would be surrounded otherwise, and it denies the enemy desperately needed food. Even if the Armes/Godwin army ''didn't'' fall for the trap, they'd still be chasing a fully stocked army with empty bellies and grumbling mouths.* YinYangBomb: The Twilight Rune and the Dawn Rune have an incredibly powerful combination spell that heals the friendly party and damages all enemies at once.%%* YouCantThwartStageOne: * YouFightLikeACow: One-on-one duels are carried out by executing three possible commands that cancel each other by TacticalRockPaperScissors mechanics. How to tell what the enemy is going to do? By their pre-action taunts, of course. While this is a staple of the series, Suikoden V takes it further by adding a time limit to the input so you are in a bit more of a hurry. The catch? Certain characters with MediumAwareness start taking advantage of this rush by making ''feint taunts'' that seem like they'll be one action and change to another by the end of their speech.* YoureInsane: [[spoiler: Lyon says this to Dolph when she learns that he works for the Godwins just so he can continue to kill people.]]* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: After you liberate Sol-Falena. [[spoiler: The country is saved, but the BigBad escaped with the Sun Rune and threatens to flood the place. [[{{Irony}} The princess herself, however, is present and accounted for.]]]]----